The early trends in Gujarat have already clarified that the Congress that had a spectacular show in 2017 winning 77 seats will this time not be a formidable opposition anymore.
The Congress had run a very low-key campaign in Gujarat with its senior leader Rahul Gandhi busy in Bharat Jodo Yatra that didn’t even touch upon Modi’s home turf.
Though the recently elected Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge addressed a few rallies across the state in the final leg, Rahul Gandhi was conspicuously absent throughout. Gandhi only addressed 2 rallies that even couldn’t gather much fanfare.
The controversy evoked by Madhusudan Mistry through his statement that Congress will show ‘Aukaat’ to BJP has backfired them badly. Kharge’s recent comment in Ahmedabad that Modi has 100 heads like Ravana also was not received well by the voters.
Kharge though referred to BJP’s use of Modi magic for all elections from municipality to Lok Sabha, it was responded in a different manner. National spokesperson of BJP Sambit Patra told that Kharge had humiliated son of Gujarat by comparing him to Ravana.
Congress promised to give 10 lakhs jobs and said that they would reduce the price of LPG to Rs. 500. The voters seemingly were not convinced. The old pension scheme (OPS) promises of Congress showed its magic in Himachal Pradesh but, it failed to create any impact in Gujarat.
However, there is something yet to smile for Congress. AAP that was expecting to win 90 seats is still far away from being the runner up. Rahul Gandhi earlier clearly said that whatever AAP might claim, the major contest in Gujarat was between BJP and Congress.
Congress, except in 2017 couldn’t get any prominence in Gujarat since BJP came to power in 1995. In 2017, it was on the basis of Patidar agitation and the growing dissent among OBCs that the Congress gained some momentum and won 77 seats.
The decimation of Congress in Gujarat furthers the question – When will Bharat Jodo Yatra will give its fruits?
